Actress Portia DeGeneres, the wife of
talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, says her eating disorder was about
trying to starve away her sexuality.
The 37-year-old Australian-born actress
is promoting her memoir Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and
Gain, in which she talks about her struggles with anorexia and
coming to terms with being gay.
In a profile broadcast on ABC's
Nightline on Thursday, DeGeneres talks about how she fused
together her two greatest fears.
“I think I was trying to starve away
my sexuality,” she said. “I was straight up and down. I didn't
have a period. There was nothing about me that looked sexual. I
looked like a young girl. I looked like a little kid. And when I
was a little kid, I didn't have to think about my sexuality.” (The
video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
DeGeneres gives her talk show wife
credit for saving her from herself: “She taught me how to live
your life without worrying about what other people think of you.”
In a cover story for celebrity glossy
People, DeGeneres said that her wife “saw the person
inside.”
“My two biggest fears, being fat and
being gay, when realized, led to my greatest joy.”